Macaroni & Cheese, Beets and Anne McGilvray

For a few years I was a wholesale sales rep for books and gifts. My accounts were in New Mexico and West Texas, which was a vast and untapped territory. Leaving Anne McGilvray & Company was one of the hardest decisions I've made. I truly loved the job and was passionate about the business, but it became obvious to those around me that I needed to make a change. That is usually how things happen for me. Someone will say something like, "Are you just going to keep going with this or don't you think it's time to move on?" While working for Anne, I had to attend a minimum of two trade shows every year and I had the option of attending the Los Angeles show or the Dallas show. I first chose the Los Angeles show because I thought it would be more fun to go to LA. Turns out that it was more fun, but none of my customers went to the LA show, they always went to Dallas.

The Anne McGilvray showroom in Dallas is more fun to me than an amusement park. Filled, floor to ceiling with the most innovative, trendy and eye-catching merchandise, the showroom was the largest of its kind that I have ever seen and walking into the showroom made me realize why I had begun selling this kind of merchandise to begin with. When people asked me what I sold, I would say "whimsy" because I did not know how else to describe my job.

The company would hire a shuttle that bussed people from the main convention center to our private showroom. We would entice some customers who have not been to the showroom before by offering them free margaritas, lunch, dinner or a beer. Free. Customers who had been to the showroom on previous trips would ALWAYS continue to shuttle over every time they came to the gift show because they knew they could find the best merchandise, but they could also get the free lunch and a drink.

As a sales rep, it was a love/hate relationship with the gift show. I would end up being in Dallas for almost 10 days, trapped in a studio suite, extended stay hotel. I used to stay with my friend Dolly who lived in New Orleans at the time. We used to joke that we were the two outcasts at the show because everyone else was from Texas, it seemed and our territories were so unique. Sales Managers would tell us to pitch their bestseller and we would explain that our bestseller was definitely NOT a Texas flag. Dolly and I both smoked (and thankfully both of us do not smoke anymore). We would wake up at 7am and start the coffee and cigarettes, get dressed and head over to the showroom. We did this repeatedly, day after day for more than a week and we would work until it was dark outside. This was also always over my birthday and I felt like a complete zombie by the time my birthday arrived that we would just retire to the hotel, like every other night where we would watch TV, have a glass of wine and smoke more cigarettes. It was a glamorous life, yes. Don't be jealous.

Anne was very particular about the menu she served in the cafeteria at the showroom. There was always the full bar and some snacks that they would serve in between meals. One of the snacks she always served was a terrific jalapeno pepper jelly over cream cheese. We would spread it on crackers. That was my favorite snack and Anne would always come find me to tell me that it was out on the bar. I think she served the same meals at every show, but she really worked hard to pick what she would serve on which days. She would spend a lot of time on the phone with her assistants having them type up the menu, make changes and notify the caterer. All of the meals were fantastic. I don't ever remember having anything there that didn't taste delicious.

The one meal that everyone always commented on was the macaroni & cheese, beets and a side salad. It was the one vegetarian meal Anne would serve for lunch. I think a lot of customers would say things like, "Oh great, glad I came today instead of for the Texas barbecue" in a sarcastic tone. The reps would comment how they would just have the mac & cheese and skip the beets. It was my favorite meal and I always asked Anne right when I got there if that was on the menu and which day. I never in a million years would have thought of putting those two things together. I could see how it would be frustrating because the beet juice would pour into the macaroni & cheese and turn the noodles pink. I didn't care. It was the perfect combination of comfort food and fresh vegetables to cut the rich, homemade sauce in the classic macaroni & cheese. I will never forget that lunch and I have actually made it myself on several occasions. Not so much now that I am with someone who does not particularly care for beets, but has tried and tried to please me by trying them over and over again. There is nothing like a freshly roasted beet with a slight taste of fresh orange juice and sea salt.

And a scoop of macaroni & cheese.